


Every Story Needs a Villain

by ladygabe



Category: Loki: Agent of Asgard, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Gen, Loki is sad, Suicide Attempt, spoilers for Agent of Asgard #5, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-06
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-03 16:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1751285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygabe/pseuds/ladygabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Loki: Agent of Asgard #5, Loki tries to escape his destiny the only way he knows how. But it is not so easy to escape chains everyone else wants you in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Story Needs a Villain

Loki would rather take an arrow to the face than burn – or, as it turned out, a sword to the chest. Lævateinn slid neatly between his ribs, severing the veins and organs that kept his chosen form tied to the mortal plane. 

Sigurd had laughed at Lævateinn's name, but as a thorn could fell a lion, so a twig could fell a god. Loki felt a strange peace come over him as he slumped to the floor, admiring the now hazy scene of his apartment fading around him. He had liked this apartment, loved it even; it had been home, and he was glad this was where he chose to die. 

A cold wind hit his face. The softness of his rug became hard stone, so frigid it could be mistaken for ice. He looked up with a smile at Hela on her throne, admiring the fact that yes, he could startle even the goddess of death (as far as she had known he had been stricken from her books; she had missed that he had written himself back in). 

“Can I ask a favor, B.F.F.?” Not that he was the boy she had called that, once upon a time, but what was wrong with one more little deception? 

Hela rose from her throne, her every movement that of the queen she was, boots clicking as she descended the steps to where he knelt, a petitioner at her feet. 

“What scheme is this?” she asked, the line of puzzlement between her brow obvious even underneath her mask. Loki's smile did not fade. 

“A very simple one,” he responded. “It is exactly what it looks like. So I ask again: a favor, for an old friend?” 

“Speak and I will decide,” she answered, knowing him far too well not to be wary. 

“Let me sleep,” Loki said. His words drifted, landing softly before her, and he could tell she knew not what to do with them. Of course she would find them strange: only one Loki before him had defeated his ego enough to accept a true death, and she had never known of his choice. 

She leaned down, for a moment on his level, for a moment his friend, her cool hand touching his cheek. 

And then his entire body (no, not body; that was far from here: his soul) jerked beneath her fingers. He gasped, and felt air forced into lungs he should no longer feel. No, no, _no_ – 

“Let me _die_!” In the realm of the dead it was a scream, but from his body's lips it was a broken whisper. He tried to think of who would be trying so hard to rescue him that they were somehow denying the fact he had a sword through his chest and were dragging him back to his body. Thor, perhaps even Verity, but who else would care – 

A chilling, all too familiar chuckle resounded in his head as the view of Hela and her kingdom faded from sight. “Nice try.” 

Loki woke with a gasp to the faces of the All-Mother standing over him. Freyja held Lævateinn in her hand, a sight that would have enraged him had he any energy to be. 

“Why?” he hissed with a mouth that still tasted of copper. 

“You play a vital role in making Asgard what it should be,” Freyja answered, her tone emotionless. “I will not allow you to steal it away from us again.” She threw Lævateinn down onto the coffee table, where it clattered, knocking books off. 

“Because you need a villain.” Loki barely managed a sneer. He was too tired for hate, but sorrow welled up easily in his heart. 

“As does every story,” she said, as if it were all truly so simple. Then she was gone, leaving the other two in her wake. 

Idunn spared him a glance, conflict in her gaze, and then followed Freyja. 

It was Gaea who repented and stayed, kneeling beside Loki.

It was in her arms that the greatest enemy of Asgard cried.


End file.
